Latest products, news and interesting information for the novice Gaijin in Japan

If you're a new parent you will no doubt have found out by now that your child's nose is perpetually clogged by gallons and gallons of snot (which your child will insist on keeping with all his might). And you will have also found out how ineffectual your puny nasal aspirator is as you try headlo... ...read more

If you happened to be around any of the huge Japanese retail toy stores on August 2, you would have noticed an ultra long queue of people waiting for the doors to open. These were shoppers waiting buy the new line of products related to Yokai Watch - the latest anime franchise to take Japan by st... ...read more

The National Stadium (or Kokuritsu Kyogijyo) has been very much at the heart of Japanese sports since 1964 when it was first commissioned as the primary competition space for the Tokyo Olympics. Now with an aging infrastructure and out-of-date facilities, this iconic landmark is making way for a ... ...read more

The grisly but surprisingly rich 'Attack on Titan' feels is definitely growing to become the one of the few global anime phenomena in years – I haven’t gone a week since the show starting airing without overhearing a conversation about it. Sometime in the distant future, humanity is nearly wiped ... ...read more

If you're into Harajuku street fashion you should be familiar with "A Bathing Ape".
This month the ura-hara apparel brand is teaming up with none other than Katsuhiro Otomo - the creator of Akira - and collage artist Kosuke Kawamura for an exhibition that merges fashion with art... We're not ... ...read more

According to the Nikkei Shinbun, the quintessential Japanese bar food "edamame" has become the second most searched Japanese cuisine-related word outside of Japan next to "sushi".
Even those of you who don't know what edamame is would have surely witnessed it if you have visited any restauran... ...read more

Great news for fashionistas living in or visiting Tokyo this week!
Harajuku will come alive starting this week for the annual HARAJUKU KAWAii!! WEEK.
The event will feature several fashion shows around the town including one in LaForet Museum Harajuku.
Check out the official HARAJUKU ... ...read more

The World Cosplay Summit is hosting a funky contest for tech geeks who love to cosplay for the good of their community. Developers can enter the contest by building a mobile app that does something (anything) to contribute to the community around them. The intent of the event is to liven up rura... ...read more

Product Review
Usually when we talk about awesome figures Bandai is not the first brand to come to mind.
However, this time the new S.H. MonsterArts series of high quality, fully poseable monster action figures: the Alien and the Predator seem to be as good as it gets. The two famed creatu... ...read more

Jump magazine has announced the final airing schedule of the new Dragon Ball Kai anime. The series titled "New age of Kai" will premiere on April 6 and will essentially follow the Majin Buu Saga.
To the further elation of fans, the Kai series will be animated using digital high-def remastering... ...read more

If you're a student in Japan you will no-doubt have had to wade through an ocean of bicycles to get to class at one time or another. You might even be a contributor to this problem yourself? If so you must know that finding bicycle parking on campus is a serious problem. Due to lax polic... ...read more